This invention relates to adjustable trigger stops for guns, and has a particular application with respect to trigger stops used in paintball guns, also known as paintball markers.
In this specification, it should be understood that the word “trigger stop” is used to denote a component in a gun, such as a paintball gun or marker, whose position can be adjusted or varied to place a lock or bar against activation of the firing mechanism. The trigger stop, also known by other names such as a catch, is a broad term used in this document to indicate any physical mechanism which has the effect of locking the weapon. The trigger stop of the invention can also be used to adjust or vary the “travel” of the trigger so that the user can set this parameter for desired speed of firing.
Trigger stops, or catches, which can be fastened or released to jam the firing mechanism and prevent accidental of the weapon, are common components, and are found on almost all types of guns. They can also be found on paintball markers.
Typically, and with respect to paintball markers, the operator fires the weapon by the activation of the firing mechanism. This is initiated by pulling on a trigger. The movement of the trigger, which is in contact with a sear or a pivotal lever adjacent the trigger, causes the sear to move, or pivot about a rotating point. This movement, or pivoting of the sear, eventually results in the release of a hammer, which in turn strikes a valve in the paintball marker to open airflow pathways to produce sufficient force to effect the discharge of the paintball loaded in the paintball marker.
Conventional trigger stops or catch systems use stops which are in some way configured to prevent movement of the trigger, and to thereby stop pivoting of the sear, when in the locked position, and thus jam the firing mechanism to ensure that the weapon will not be inadvertently activated and cause injury when a paintball is discharged.
With particular reference to paintball markers, conventional catches or trigger stops usually comprise small barrel-shaped objects which are mounted in the vicinity of the trigger or sear, and have an axis which is transverse or normal to the barrel of the paintball marker. This arrangement is also common for a conventional weapon. This catch is movable between a first position, where it permits unobstructed movement of the sear and/or trigger, and a second position, where the stop directly engages the trigger or sear so that further movement thereof is prohibited. In the second position, the gun is therefore locked and cannot be fired.
One potential problem associated with conventional trigger stops or catches is that the barrel-shaped object which comprises the trigger stop projects outwardly from the trigger frame, or other portion of the paintball marker or gun, presenting itself as a small button, which can be pushed from one direction or another so as to move the catch into the first or second position for locking or unlocking the mechanism. Such catches may be inadvertently knocked so as to move them from the locked to the unlocked position, causing a potentially dangerous situation. Further, these trigger stops may indeed be manipulated to the unlocked position by children or inexperienced users, once more causing unlocking of the firing mechanism and creating a dangerous situation.